04 Useful Tips on Claiming Travel Insurance (Part 1)

This post is one year late but I will go by the saying “better late than never”. Prior to my dream trip to the Land of the Long White Cloud last June, I wrote an article regarding tips for the right travel insurance. Here’s part 1 of the follow-up on “04 Easy Tips for the Right Travel Insurance”.

In the end, I settled for Ace Travel Insurance, which was having a 50% promotion tie-in with one of the banks. As with all other trips, I kept my fingers crossed that there will be no travel disruptions and that I do not need to fall back on the insurance.

Nonetheless, there are many things in life that are unpredictable. The sudden demise of my beloved grandfather had me flying back to Singapore two weeks after I started on a supposed 6-month journey. It was the first time that I experienced something like that and I did not think much about claiming insurance until we have settled the funeral matters.

Since I have quitted my full-time job to go for the working holiday in New Zealand, I was determined to return to Kiwiland even though the air tickets threatened to put a bigger hole in my pocket. That was the same time that I scrutinised my insurance policy and called the company to check about compensation. The customer service line in Singapore was very polite and helpful. Fortunately, I was covered under the Journey Curtailment Benefit.

To process the claim, one can complete the online form and submit it with supporting documents. As there are limitations to the form, I sent a follow-up email as well. Having done that, I was back in New Zealand while the processing department went on to do their job. There were some hiccups in communication (both over the emails and phone) and it seemed that the processing department is based in the Philippines. Sometimes, emails were lost on their end and there were missed calls on my end.

However, I have to give Ace Travel Insurance credit because the claim was processed in less than three months from the time of submission. Once the claim was processed, the payment is relatively quick within 5 to 7 working days. This was definitely a much better experience than the one that I had with another local insurer.

During my Phuket trip in 2012, my phone went missing after going through the Immigration scanning machine. To cut a long story short, I try to claim for insurance when I returned home. As usual, I have scrutinised the policy and was adamant that my case was valid. My first reply from the company was a computerised, standard letter rejecting my claim in the form of an email. Knowing my benefits based on the policy, I sent a follow-up mail with all the supporting documents and underlined some parts of the policy. One month later, I received a cheque from the company via snail mail with no letter or explanation. I was dumbfounded by the service but have since learnt the importance of being persistent (when one is in the right). To me, it is not so much about the money rather than the principle of matters.

The above information has been compiled based on my own experience and should only be used as a reference. For more information, please do the necessary research and planning prior to getting the best value out of your travel insurance.

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